US Marines set to leave after 2-week war drills

Several thousand US Marines were packing up their equipment yesterday after two weeks of extensive training with Filipino soldiers, officials said.

About 5,700 US Marines and 1,300 Filipino soldiers had roped down from helicopters, parachuted, and stormed the beaches of southwestern Palawan in a series of exercises to improve their counterterrorism and other combat skills.

Since 2002, American troops have trained and armed Filipino soldiers battling militants in the South, which has become a crucial front in the US-led campaign against terrorism because of the reported presence of terror training camps.

US soldiers do not take part in actual combat.

"Whether it was... training in the littoral areas, coastal patrol interdiction with the Philippine Navy and Marine corps, close air support with the Philippine Air Force, jungle environment survival training, live fire exercises, or civil military operations, our forces have demonstrated the team concept throughout," said US Marine Brig. Gen. Joseph Medina, commanding general of the 3rd Marine Expeditionary Brigade in Okinawa, Japan.

Three US Navy ships from the Essex Amphibious Ready Group based in Sasebo, Japan, that have docked at the former US naval base at Subic Bay, will be leaving over the next few days with American equipment and personnel, said US military spokesman Capt. Burrell Parmer.

The training dubbed "Talon Vision" and Amphibious Landing Exercise (PHIBLEX) ended Oct. 31 and the troops were given some rest and recreation time in and around Subic, which the US closed in 1992.

The US servicemen were granted liberty passes Wednesday morning, lasting until midnight yesterday.

Last year’s drill was marred by the rape accusations of a 23-year-old woman who claimed that four US Marines had assaulted her after a night of drinking. A judge was due to hand down a verdict in the case later this month.

The claimant held a protest Tuesday to mark the one-year anniversary of the case, saying it should be a warning to visiting US soldiers not to abuse Filipino women. — AP and Ric Sapnu